Following the cancellation of the planned friendly matches between the Flying Eagles and Egypt, the Nigeria Football Federation has secured Cote d’Ivoire as a replacement team ahead of the forthcoming U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.
Seven-time African champions Nigeria will now play the AFCON hosts Cote d’Ivoire in two matches scheduled for Wednesday and Friday in Abidjan.
Aliyu Lawal Ibrahim, Team Administrator of the Flying Eagles, confirmed that the team, which has been in camp in Abuja for weeks after head coach Aliyu Zubairu called up 30 players for the planned games with Egypt’s Young Pharaohs, is expected to depart Abuja for Abidjan on Monday.
The Flying Eagles defeated the Ivorians 2-1 in a group stage encounter at the WAFU B U-20 Championship in Togo in October last year – a result that qualified the Cup holders to the semi-finals of the competition which they eventually won to retain the trophy.
Forty-two years ago, Nigeria edged the Ivorians 4-3 in a memorable two-leg final of the Tessema Cup (the trophy for Africa’s U-20 champions, named after then CAF President Ydnekatchew Tessema). Both teams had already qualified for the FIFA World Youth Championship (now FIFA U-20 World Cup) finals in Mexico, but the fixture was staged to determine the champions of Africa. The first leg in Abidjan ended 2-2, but a long-range strike by Dahiru Sadi in the second half gave Nigeria a 2-1 win in the return leg at the National Stadium, Lagos.
The proposed friendlies with the Pharaohs were cancelled after both Nigeria and Egypt were drawn in Group B (alongside Morocco and South Africa) of the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Cote d’Ivoire from April 26 to May 18.
All four semi-finalists at the AFCON will qualify to represent the continent at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile from September 27 to October 19 this year.
